BOARD

A piece of timber sawed thin, and of considerable length and breadth as compared with the thickness, -- used for building, etc.

A table to put food upon.

Hence: What is served on a table as food; stated meals; provision; entertainment; -- usually as furnished for pay; as, to work for one's board; the price of board.

A table at which a council or court is held. Hence: A council, convened for business, or any authorized assembly or meeting, public or private; a number of persons appointed or elected to sit in council for the management or direction of some public or private business or trust; as, the Board of Admiralty; a board of trade; a board of directors, trustees, commissioners, etc. Both better acquainted with affairs than any other who sat then at that board. Clarendon. We may judge from their letters to the board. Porteus.

A square or oblong piece of thin wood or other material used for some special purpose, as, a molding board; a board or surface painted or arranged for a game; as, a chessboard; a backgammon board.

Paper made thick and stiff like a board, for book covers, etc.; pasteboard; as, to bind a book in boards.

The stage in a theater; as, to go upon the boards, to enter upon the theatrical profession.

The border or side of anything. (Naut.)

The side of a ship. "Now board to board the rival vessels row." Dryden. See On board, below.

The stretch which a ship makes in one tack.

To cover with boards or boarding; as, to board a house. "The boarded hovel." Cowper.

To go on board of, or enter, as a ship, whether in a hostile or a friendly way. You board an enemy to capture her, and a stranger to receive news or make a communication. Totten.

To enter, as a railway car. [Colloq. U. S.]

To furnish with regular meals, or with meals and lodgings, for compensation; to supply with daily meals.

To place at board, for compensation; as, to board one's horse at a livery stable.

To obtain meals, or meals and lodgings, statedly for compensation; as, he boards at the hotel. We are several of us, gentlemen and ladies, who board in the same house. Spectator.

To approach; to accost; to address; hence, to woo. [Obs.] I will board her, though she chide as loud As thunder when the clouds in autumn crack. Shak.